


here comes that sunrise

by rories



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 16:17:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12280059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rories/pseuds/rories
Summary: liz and ressler get stuck in a snowstorm. cuddling ensues.here comes that sunrise / here comes that feeling / here comes them blue skies / here comes that healing / here comes that sunrise





	here comes that sunrise

**Author's Note:**

> written for this prompt: I wish you would write a fanfic where Res and Liz go camping for work but one of them turns it into a little adventure and then they cliche snuggle for warmth.

Liz and Ressler are supposed to be meeting up with Samar and Aram to finalize details for the assignment in a little town just outside of Roanoke, when their SUV breaks down halfway through the drive. They had stayed behind to finish up some paperwork and get their new IDs to go undercover while the other two members of their team had gone ahead to start setting up surveillance. They weren’t planning on staying long, but bureaucratic delays had meant that they don’t get to leave until later that evening. 

The weather forecast had called for sleet and snow, so Liz wants to get to their case as soon as possible. The suspect they are looking for was last seen in the Jefferson National Forest at one of the campsites, so their plan is to drive in and camp for a few nights to try and get close to him. It’s probably going to be miserable weather, but she’s wearing a pair of long johns under her jeans and they have extra blankets for their tent. She thinks it might even be fun, making s’mores and seeing Ressler a little more casual than usual. And if she chooses to ignore the way that makes her warm at the thought, then so be it. 

The trip isn’t long, but they end up leaving closer to 11 pm, so by the time they get close to where they need to be, it’s almost 3 in the morning. Liz has offered to drive off and on, but Ressler says he has it under control. Liz thinks he’s scared of her driving, but she can’t really be sure. She’s taken a few cat naps off and on and it hasn’t escaped her notice that each time she wakes up, the radio is turned down low as to not wake her. 

She’s dozing one more time when she’s jerked awake by a loud stuttering noise from in front of her, followed by her whole body lurching forward, stopped only by Ressler’s arm across her chest. Ressler curses softly and shifts in to park before throwing open his door. The cold air does more to wake her up, so she quickly unbuckles to follow him. 

By the time she gets to the front of the vehicle, Ressler already has the hood propped open and is blowing smoke away from the engine. The wind is howling and chills her to the bone, even through her layers, so she wraps her arms around herself and steps closer. He looks entirely unaffected by the weather which irritates her as the wind snaps around the both of them. 

She can’t immediately tell what is wrong with the vehicle, but Ressler is touching different parts of it, wiggling wires and taking things apart. “What’s wrong with it?” Liz asks and her teeth are already starting to chatter. 

“I’m not sure,” Ressler mutters, jerking his fingers back from the still steaming radiator. “I think the radiator is cracked.”

“So…we’re stuck here?” she asks. She may not know how to fix cars, but she knows they’re not getting anywhere with a cracked radiator. 

“Looks like,” Ressler says with a heavy sigh. He lets the hood fall closed with a loud bang before heading back to the driver’s seat. Liz can tell he’s annoyed but it’s slightly thrown off by the red that’s crept across his cheekbones and the tip of his nose. 

They climb back into the car, slamming their doors to the rising wind. It had stopped snowing, but Liz can tell it’s coming again. “Guess we’re not making it to the op tonight,” she says, pulling her jacket tighter around herself. They’re out of the wind, but the cold is in her bones now. 

“I’ll call Cooper, see if we can get a tow or another car,” Ressler says in answer. He digs his phone out of the cup holder where he’d set it while Liz takes a moment to check out their surroundings. On either side of the road are tall trees and she’s been in and out of sleep most of the drive, so she’s not sure when the last time she saw a building was. They seem to be in the middle of nowhere. 

She can feel her heart start to beat just a bit faster at the thought and then flinches when Ressler curses. “There’s no signal,” he growls out and Liz’s blood runs even colder. 

Even though she believes him, has always trusted him, she can’t help but pull out her own phone to check. She confronted by a bright screen and no bars, the tiny ‘No Signal’ mocking her. She clicks her phone off and let’s out a heavy sigh of her own, leaning her head back against the headrest. 

“What do we do?” she wonders aloud. He doesn’t answer, but she hadn’t really expected him to. She sits for a few minutes, but with the car off, the cold starts to seep in. Liz can tell that it’s starting to effect Ressler as well. “We could walk to a gas station,” she starts, but she can tell by his face that it’s not a viable option. 

“Last gas station was about 45 minutes back. Haven’t seen anything since then.” He leans forward in his seat to look out of the windshield. “And…it’s snowing again.”

Liz mimics his position to look out and up to see thick snowflakes falling in flurries, whipped around by the still howling wind. She lets out a murmured swear and flops back in her seat. “That’s just great. We’re going to freeze to death out here in the middle of nowhere.” 

Ressler scrunches his nose in response and breathes heavily through his nose. He has no ideas to get them out of this predicament and, honestly, the cold is starting to seep in, making him increasingly uncomfortable. 

They sit in silence for a few more minutes before Ressler detects movement next to him. He looks to the passenger side just in time to see Liz climbing between the seats to the back of the SUV. He does his best to ignore the area of her body that’s suddenly in his face, but she doesn’t make it easy on him. He reluctantly turns his focus to the snow falling more heavily in front of him and ignores the huffs he hears from his partner as she climbs in the back. 

“What are you doing?” he asks and hopes that she can’t hear the way his voice croaks as he talks. 

“We’re stuck here, right?” she inquires and Ressler watches her in the rearview mirror for a moment before grunting out an affirmative. “It’s getting colder out there and we can’t run the car for heat. I’m not about to sit in the cold all night when we have sleeping bags and blankets.” The whole time she’s been talking, she’s been digging in their bags, pulling out said blankets and sleeping bags and then he sees her peer over the headrests to the empty cargo space. “I think if we put these seats down, we’ll have enough room to lay back here,” she says and she’s already moving to figure out how to put the seats down. 

Ressler can only watch her, watch the look of concentration on her face as she solves this puzzle, as simple as it may be. He’s briefly overwhelmed by the feelings that rush over him at the sight of her. They’ve been partners for a while now, have been through so much, and their friendship is stronger for it. And it hasn’t been until recently that they’ve found themselves moving past friendship to something more. 

He turns his body to look at her, watches her tug at the seats, and then there is a heavy thump and the back of the seat falls forward. Ressler has to admire Liz’s flexibility as she maneuvers her body around to allow the seat to fall flat before turning to do the same with other side. “You could help, you know,” she says with a grunt before the other half of the seats falls as well. 

“You look like you have this under control.” He smirks when she finally looks up at him and glares at him through the hair that’s fallen in her face. His smirk grows into a grin as she mutters a soft “jerk” before she moves to lay out a sleeping bag. For a moment, Ressler contemplates just watching her, but he starts to feel bad as he watches her struggle. He’s not about to climb over the seats like she did, is nowhere near as flexible, so he braces himself and hops out of the driver’s seat. 

The wind is bitterly cold and even though he’s only outside for a second, it feels like it seeps deeper into his bones. He swings open the back door and climbs in, ignoring Liz’s exclamation. He knocks as much snow off his shoes as he can before slamming the door behind him, encasing them in warmth once again. 

They work together to get a sleeping bag laid out, but when he grabs the second one, she stops him with a soft hand on his arm. “I thought we could use this one,” she says, holding up the other end of the second bag, “as a blanket.” 

Ressler doesn’t say anything for a moment, just looks from Liz to the sleeping bag already laid out to the sleeping bag in his hand and then back to Liz. “Um…” 

“Unless you don’t want to share…” she says with a quick grin. 

Ressler looks from Liz to the sleeping bag in his hand to the sleeping bag already laid out and back to Liz. “Um…”

The smile drops from her face and Ressler immediately feels guilty. “Okay, we don’t have to share,” she says and then starts to pull the already laid out sleeping bag to one side. She jumps when his hand slams down on the corner of it, halting it’s progress, and she looks up again, confusion in her eyes. 

“We can share,” is all he replies, but there’s something in his gaze that wasn’t there before, like he’d finally shaken himself out of his shock and is terrified that he’s messed something up. “It’s a good idea to share.” 

There’s a fluttering in the base of his belly when the smile finally returns to her face and he hopes the blush he feels creeping up is hidden in the low light of the backseat. Ressler takes a minute to move the sleeping bag back to the middle and can’t help his own grin at the thought of being so close to Liz for the night. 

They’ve been moving past friendship for awhile now, have gone to dinner a few times, and he can remember their first kiss with such clarity. But they’ve never technically spent the night together. Not that Ressler hasn’t tried, but every time he tries to move them forward, something comes up, whether a case or Reddington or that time Liz’s college roommate called and kept her on the phone for three hours. 

He’s not exactly thrilled that their first night together will be in the back of a broken down SUV in the middle of a snow storm, but he has to admit that he’s excited to be spending time with her. Is excited that he’ll get to wrap around her and share her warmth, breath in her intoxicating smell, press against her soft skin. 

He clears his throat and tries to get his mind back on track. When he looks up, she’s pulling blankets out of the bag and laying them on top of the sleeping bag. He leans over to help and they spend the next few minutes making a makeshift pallet. 

Finally, it’s done and Liz let’s out a sigh of relief. The quick catnaps had done nothing to help her exhaustion. She can’t even imagine how Ressler is feeling. She watches as he struggles to get his shoes off and admires his sock covered feet when he finally does. She quickly follows his lead and pulls her own off and starts to unbutton her blouse.

“What are you doing?” Ressler asks and the blush she was trying to fight blooms from her neck and climbs up her face. She pauses in her task but uses one hand to keep her blouse closed. 

“I have a sweatshirt.” She flicks her eyes to her bag in explanation. “I’m going to be uncomfortable enough sleeping on the floor, I might as well find comfort where I can and that includes not sleeping in a button down.” 

Ressler has to give her props for that. He was willing to sleep in this work clothes, but now that he thinks about it, he could probably get away with pulling out his own sweatshirt and maybe change into his own pair of long johns that he’d brought. “That’s a good idea,” he says in reply, letting her get back to changing. 

He does his best to be a gentleman, but when he sees a flash of skin as she shrugs off her shirt, he can’t help but look. They’re partners, so he’s seen her in various states of dress before, but this is something new, something intimate. He clears his throat and turns to his own bag to change. He’s been in a weird squatting position pretty much this whole time, so he falls back, letting out an “oof” as he lands on his backside. Since he’s already got his shoes off, it doesn’t take long to start undoing his belt and untucking his shirt. 

“What are you doing?” he hears her ask from behind him and he can tell that she’s already changed because her teeth are chattering from the brief contact her skin had with the cold air. 

“Well, I’m also not about to be uncomfortable. I have a pair of long johns in here and a sweatshirt.” He hears her again, a noise of affirmation followed by the sound of her sliding into the sleeping bag, now covered with the second bag and a few blankets. “Is it warm?” he asks, grunting with the effort of having to change in such a cramped space. 

“No,” she answers and now her teeth are chattering harder. “It’ll be better when we’re sharing body heat.” Her voice is muffled now and when he looks back after pulling his sweatshirt down, her head is covered by the blankets. 

Finally, he’s done, though cold, and reaches up to flick off the dome light. The only light now is from the streetlight beyond the SUV, the moon hidden behind heavy clouds. He crawls under the blankets, doing his best not to jostle the blankets too much and settles next to Liz. He mimics her position, on his side with his head propped up on his folded up jacket. The only difference between the two is that he can’t see her face under all the blankets.

He can’t help but grin at the view of just the top of her head before he reaches out and gently tugs the blankets away from her face. She peers up at him and grins back, shuffling just a little bit closer to his warmth. “It’s cold,” she whispers and then laughs as he jerks when she touches his stomach. Her hands had found the small strip of skin between his pants and sweatshirt that had been uncovered in his attempt to join her in the blankets. 

“Jesus, you’re hands are like ice,” he says, grabbing them away from his skin. He holds them in between his hands, massaging them lightly before bringing them near his mouth. Ressler huffs out a breath against them, warming them between his own cupped hands. He tries to ignore the way Liz’s own breath hitches and the way her eyes darken as she watches his mouth. “Better?” he asks, voice low and mouth still against her hands. If he wanted to, he could press his lips to her soft skin, could scatter kisses on the inside of her wrist.

Liz swallows hard and then nods minutely. “Yeah,” she chokes out. “Better.” 

Ressler laughs and tucks their arms back between them. Being so close to her, underneath the blankets and sleeping bag, means the cold air from before is slowly dissipating. Liz is still staring at him, eyes following his smile as he settles more comfortably. “What?” he asks with a laugh.

“I really want to kiss you,” she blurts out and Ressler falls a little bit in love with the blush that crawls across her cheeks. He knows she’s expecting an answer or an acknowledgement so he gets a burst of enjoyment when he moves forward and her eyes widen. 

Her lips are soft and warm when he presses his own against them and he watches her eyes flutter shut before he closes his own. He was warming up before but now his whole body is alight. He wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his body as he deepens the kiss. 

Finally, they run out of breath, pulling away from each other panting. Liz’s eyes are unfocused and shining as she stares at his chest. Neither of them are cold now. “We should get some sleep,” Ressler says, but he doesn’t move away from her as she nods in agreement. 

He does, however, shuffle them around a little to get more comfortable. He ends up on his back and waits for Liz to settle on his chest. When she finally does, he lets out a sigh of relief and contentment, bringing a hand up to run through her hair. 

“You know, you make me really happy,” he says after a moment. He thought it would be harder to say, but it comes out easily. “I’ve had a little trouble with personal happiness lately. But you…” he trails off for a second, trying to gather the courage he needs to continue. He finds it in the form of her small hand sliding under his shirt hem, slim fingers gripping his side. It’s a quiet, soft hug that makes his heart swell. “But you make me happier than I thought I could be. And I know this, us, is still new, but I...I’ve never been happier than when I’m with you.” 

By the time he’s finished, his voice is low and soft, slowing down as exhaustion takes him. The grip she had on his side is quickly loosening, so he knows she’s also on her way to falling asleep. But he still has one more thing to say. 

There, in the dark of a broken down car, buried under blankets and sleeping bags, no space between them and half asleep, he finally tells her. “I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> y'all
> 
> this was just
> 
> so much
> 
> i don’t think this was quite what you were wanting, but hopefully you like it lol
> 
> sorry i write in so much present tense lol i have a problem
> 
> god this is long why can’t i ever just write a short thing


End file.
